The Coal Ministry has agreed to
the Power Ministry's demand to divert a portion of the coal currently being
sold through the auction route to power projects that are stranded without
fuel.
This will help partially offset
the fuel shortage faced by the power sector, the Power Secretary, Mr P. Uma
Shankar, said here on Wednesday.
“The Coal Secretary has told us
that the Coal Ministry will be able to spare some of the coal that would be
sold through e-auctions, provided the developer picks up the coal from the
pithead,” he told reporters.
Around 10 per cent of the total
production of Coal India Ltd (CIL) is sold through e-auctions. The state-owned
coal major plans to e-auction around 50 million tonnes of coal in the current
fiscal year through March, Mr Shankar said.
However, It is not clear how much
of this would be diverted to power producers.
The price of coal sold through
the e-auction route is at market rates and is much higher than the price under
long-term sale agreements of Coal India.
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